The programme, ‘An Evening with Tagore Beyond Boundaries’, held at Smriti Nandan Cultural Centre, was one of them. The rains did not stop the ardent lovers of ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ from attending the event.

A small group of people came together to listen to some of the songs, which were penned by Tagore. The evening saw a mix of songs along with the reading of a play.

The event was dedicated to the music composed by Tagore also known as Gitabitan. Gitabitan has four major parts including puja (worship), prem (love), prakriti (nature) and bichitra (diverse). But the evening only included songs of worship and love, all of which were interwoven with proses written by the great poet. Each prose was recited by Lalita Ubhayaker and was followed by a song by the members of Smriti Nandan.

The songs were sung by Asmit Datta, Arundhuti Chowdhury, Deepali Chakraborty, Robin Chowdhury, Subhas Chakravarty, Sushmita Datta, Tamojit Roy and Ujjaini Chowdhury. The singers were ably supported on the tabla by Asim Datta but it was the vocals which remained the heart and soul of the songs.

The music, which was a mix of Indian classical and traditional folk, was a pleasure to listen to. The members of the audience were throughly engrossed in the songs, which were simple yet profound. Almost all the songs were in Bengali but it was not difficult to understand why this music has become a part of the Indian culture.

Some of the songs sung during the evening were Tare Aropya, Tum Kaise Yeh Geet Gate Ho, Ak Muno, Kamale Kusuma, Asha Bahar Pathane, Pinak Ke Tere Taunkar and
Jagatu Jua Udar Shue. Melancholic and powerful, the music was true testimony to the
brilliance of Tagore’s music and his poetry.

The Rabindra Sangeet was followed by the reading of Tagore’s play Sanyasi by Lalita Ubhayaker, Soumitra Chakraborty and S Ramaswamy.

Detachment was the central theme of this play. A sanyasi observes the outside world and the unnecessary things people are obsessed about. But as soon as he leaves his solitary confinement and enters the world, he finds himself caring for a young girl. The play describes the struggle of the sanyasi, his way of life and the world around him.